You get what everyone knows you’ll never pay for

Trump was apparently as unimpressed with the performance of his lawyers today as everyone else:

For former President Donald Trump, the opening day of his second impeachment trial did not go as planned or to his liking.

Cocooned at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump watched as his defense attorneys responded to an emotional presentation by House impeachment managers with a series of dry, technical and at times meandering arguments about due process and the constitutionality of the proceedings. As they droned on, he grew increasingly frustrated with the sharp contrast between their muted response and the prosecution’s opening salvo, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

“President Trump was not happy with the performance of his legal team in action,” said one of the people familiar with his thinking.

I’m not sure arguments such as “the Constitution’s impeachment process violates the Constitution” merit the term “technical,” but anyway.

It was a teaching day so I missed this in real time, but I would actually recommend Raskin’s speech and the accompanying video if you haven’t seen them:

“This cannot be the future of America. Senators, we cannot have presidents that invite violence because they cannot accept the results of elections. History does not support a January exception. Why should we invent one for the future?” – @RepRaskin pic.twitter.com/YDrkyvsDRG— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) February 9, 2021

There are only two sides in this impeachment trial: republic or violence.

Senators should think carefully about the oaths they took to the Constitution.pic.twitter.com/FxKjgBVa2d— Rep. Val Demings (@RepValDemings) February 9, 2021

Dumb as the attempts to gin up an argument that it’s always too early or too late for Trump’s conviction to be constitutional are, they beat trying to defend against charges of incitement on the merits.